Brother of Palestinian Man in Gaza Killed by Israeli Sniper Speaks

Raddad Hamad was collecting scrap with his brother Odeh when Odeh was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers on December 20, 2013. The brothers, according to Raddad, were a kilometer away from Gaza’s Israeli-sealed border, which is the scene of frequent Israeli attacks on Palestinian farmers whose land has been confiscated or destroyed by so-called Israeli “buffer zones.” According to Harvard researcher Sara Roy, these buffer zones “now absorb nearly 14 percent of Gaza’s total land and at least 48 percent of total arable land.” For Raddad, who in this video describes his desperate attempts to rescue his brother, nowhere is safe from Israel’s lethal siege of Gaza and its more than 1.7 million Palestinians.

Chief among the many reasons Palestinians risk their lives to access land near Gaza’s border is the need to farm their land. But rubble collectors, bird catchers, and even families who merely want to visit their land also risk being targeted by Israeli soldiers. In Sep 2009, an Israeli soldier shot Ghazi Zaneen, 14, in the head while with his family on Beit Hanoun land 500 metres from the border.

Weekly Israeli tank and military bulldozer land-razing invasions are just one aspect of the Israeli army’s violating Palestinian territory. Israeli soldiers have also burned crops ready for harvest, systematically bombed and bulldozed water wells and cisterns, abducted farmers and rubble collectors working near the border, demolished and damaged hundreds of homes within 300 metres from the fence and beyond throughout the border region, destroyed innumerable chicken and cattle farms, and with these acts destroyed Palestinian farmers ability to earn a living, feed their families, and contribute desperately-needed affordable produce and protein to the markets of Gaza. The Israeli army has killed and injured tens of Palestinians protesting the Israeli policy of killing and destruction in the border regions.”

“…it dawns on us that Haithem is from the same extended Abu Dagga family of that of Ahmed, the 13 year old shot dead by an Israeli soldier just days before Israel assassinated Jabari and began it’s murderous 8 days of bombing all over Gaza.

Along the Green Line border dividing Gaza and Israel an electrified fence, military watch towers from north to south, remotely-controlled machine gun towers, and information-gathering blimps/balloons all serve to monitor the border region and ward off what Israel deems as threats to security.

Two separate, overlapping, OCHA reports note that 51 Palestinian civilians were killed and 237 injured (Jan 2009-Aug 2010), and 38 Palestinian civilians killed, 372 injured (Jan 2010-Oct 2011). Although a span of 7 months overlap with the two reports, its a safe bet to say that between 60-70 Palestinian civilians were killed and over 300 injured from Jan 2009 to Oct 2011, a 2.5 year span.

Compare this to Israeli casualties and you get a sense of the huge power imbalance favouring the occupying state, and realize that Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians has nothing to do with security.

In 2011, the projectiles fired by the Israeli military into Gaza have been responsible for the death of 108 Palestinians, of which 15 where women or children and the injury of 468 Palestinians of which 143 where women or children.

Conversely, rocket fire from Gaza in 2011 has resulted in the death of 3 Israelis. I’ve tried to find an accurate aggregate number of Israelis injured by projectiles from Gaza in 2011 but haven’t found anything yet. I’d be happy to update this post with that information once available. I think, however, the point is quite clear when it comes to the numbers; the imbalance is tremendous.

Throughout the years of rocket attacks into Israel, a total of 26 people have been killed altogether

For the entire duration of the 2008 Hamas–Israel cease-fire—even after Israel had broken the cease-fire on Nov. 4—not a single person was killed by rocket or mortar fire into Israel. Yet approximately two hours after Israel’s commencement of Operation Cast Lead, one person in Israel was struck and killed by shrapnel from a Qassam rocket. Two days later, three more people were killed in Israel from Gaza rocket and mortar attacks.

And for an entire year before Operation Pillar of Cloud, not a single Israeli was killed by rocket or mortar. Yet approximately sixteen hours after Pillar of Cloud commenced, a rocket from Gaza killed three Israelis.

It was during both military operations that Israel endured the highest number of fatalities from Gaza rockets and mortars in the shortest time spans.

**It is extremely worthwhile reading Phan’s entire article, in which he charts real, verified stats against claims of the Israeli army, showing very succinctly the reality of the power imbalance and the Israeli propaganda.”

International Journalism Award From Mexican Press Club March 2017

about me

Eva Bartlett is an independent writer and rights activist with extensive experience in Syria and in the Gaza Strip, where she lived a cumulative three years (from late 2008 to early 2013). She documented the 2008/9 and 2012 Israeli war crimes and attacks on Gaza while riding in ambulances and reporting from hospitals.
Since April 2014, she has visited Syria 7 times, including two months in summer 2016 and one month in Oct/Nov 2016 and her latest visit in June 2017 (to Aleppo, Homs, al-Waer, Madaya, al-Tall, Damascus).
Her early visits included interviewing residents of the Old City of Homs, which had just been secured from militants, and visiting historic Maaloula after the Aramaic village had been liberated of militants. In December 2015, Eva returned to old Homs to find life returning, small shops opened, some of the damaged historic churches holding worship anew, and citizens preparing to celebrate Christmas once again.
On her 5th visit in June-August 2016, she went twice to Aleppo, also visiting Palmyra, Masyaf, Jableh, Tartous, and Barzeh district of Damascus, as well as returning again to Maaloula and Latakia.
On her sixth visit to Syria, in October and November, she visited Aleppo twice more, as well as areas around Damascus. The testimonies Eva gathered in Aleppo starkly contrasted narratives corporate media had been asserting.
Many of her published Syria writings, videos, photos can be found at this link:
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/syria/